Non Conventional Sources of Energy

India non conventional energy maps help both students and scholars to identify different territories in India where non conventional energy sources are available.

Non Conventional Energy

In India, non-conventional energy sources consist of those energy sources that are infinite, natural, and restorable. For example, tidal energy, solar energy, and wind energy are nonconventional sources of energy. Fascinatingly, the application of tidal energy and wind energy was operational in the form of energy sources long back when mineral oil, coal, and natural gas were not broadly introduced as conventional sources of energy.

In the beginning, windmills were utilized for taking out water and pounding grains. Running water and wind were applied for direction finding. Currently, some of the important and widely used non conventional sources of energy are tides, wind, solar geothermal heat, and biomass comprising animal waste, agricultural waste, and human body waste. For example, disposals from big metropolitan areas can work as a source of producing biogas. All these non conventional energy sources are unlimited or restorable and are essentially quite economical.

Some of the India non conventional energy sources are given below -

Tidal Energy

Tidal energy is a limitless and renewable source of energy. For producing electrical power from tidal energy, dams are built close to estuaries to make use of inward and outward water currents and surges. Subsequently, the water is used to power turbines to generate electricity via the usage of water. The tidal surge has to be minimum seven meters for cost-effective performance. In the state of Gujarat, the Gulf of Kutch is an appropriate place for electrical energy from the energy generated by tall and powerful tides moving into small brooks.

Wind Energy

Wind energy is a popular form of non-conventional energy. It is utilized for drawing water, which is an essential requirement in watering agricultural lands in the rural areas. In addition, it can be utilized for electricity generation. In India, states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Orissa, and Maharashtra are regarded as superior areas with respect to this type of energy. Places that have regular and rapid wind flows are appropriate for this kind of power generation. Other than windmills, wind farms are there as well.

The installed capacity of wind power in India till December 2010 was 13,065.37 MW, principally distributed throughout:

Maharashtra - 1837.85 MW

Tamil Nadu - 4132.72 MW

Rajasthan - 670.97 MW

Karnataka - 1184.45 MW

Andhra Pradesh - 122.45 MW

Gujarat - 1432.71 MW

Kerala - 23.00 MW

Madhya Pradesh - 187.69 MW

West Bengal - 1.10 MW

Other states - 3.20 MW

Solar Energy

The sun is the most abundant and unlimited source of energy. The sun functions as a global source of energy and has tremendous potential. As a result, solar energy is one of the most important non conventional sources of energy that are utilized in India. The solar cookers are quite economical and they have been a remarkable invention. These cookers assist in food preparation nearly without any expenditure. Additionally, many tiny and medium-scale solar power plants have been intended for the countryside areas in India. Until now, some of the effective usages of solar energy include water heating, food preparation, area heating, removal of salt from water, and drying of harvest. Furthermore, it has been forecasted that solar energy will become the future source of energy while fossil fuels, specifically oil and coal, would be completely used up. Solar photovoltaic systems, solar thermal systems, and solar energy centre are some of the means of generating solar energy. The biggest photovoltaic (PV) power plants of India are as follows:

Gandhinagar Solar Plant - Installed January 21, 2011

Thyagaraj Stadium Plant-Delhi - Installed April, 2010

Azure Power, Sabarkantha Gujarat - Installed June 2011

Tata - Mulshi, Maharashtra April 2011 - Installed April 2011

Tata - Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu - Installed July 2011

Moser Baer - Patan, Gujarat - Installed July 2011

TATA - Osmanabad, Maharastra - Installed 1st Aug 2011

REHPL - Sadeipali, (Bolangir) Orissa - Installed July 2011

Techniques to generate Non Conventional Source of Energy in India

Thermal energy/Geo-thermal energy
Geothermal energy is the application of natural temperature, which prevails on the exterior and below the earth, predominantly in the fissures and holes within the outer shell of the earth. Geothermal energy can be productively utilized for different objectives. The country is not affluent in thermal energy resource. Nonetheless, endeavors are on for the total exploitation of natural energy of the Manikaran thermal springs in the state of Himachal Pradesh. Energy generated from this can be applied for operating cold storage plants.

Biomass
Biomass is an important source of energy which represents approximately 33% of the overall volume of fuel used in the country. It is broadly utilized in domestic circles for preparing food and warming. In countryside areas, farming disposables, timber, wood coal, and sunbaked droppings can be used as biomass. Many initiatives have been taken in India to make the right use of biomass in essentially a successful and more systematic way. The two principal segments of the biomass program are generation and usage of biomass. Smoke-free ambience, improved healthcare, and better quality of life and education are some of the salient benefits of biomass.

Energy Plantation
In India, barren areas are utilized for cultivation of plants and bushes that tend to spread quickly and have significant heat generating characteristics. Successively, they render wood coal, fuel wood, power, hay, and most notably opportunities for agricultural service. With the gasification plan, these energy plantations spanning approximately 8,000 hectares were generating almost 1.5 MW power every year.

Bagasse Oriented Power Plants
It was projected that Indian sugar mills have the capacity of generating over 2,000 MW additional electrical energy at the time of the grinding period. The energy generated by a sugar mill would initially fulfill its own energy needs and the remaining can be used in watering farming areas by supplying it into the local power system. Similar to bagasse, various other agricultural disposables like rice husk are also used for generating electrical energy in the country.

Energy from Urban disposables
In Delhi, a pilot plant for the intention of displaying has been established for processing hard municipal disposables for switching into energy. Urban disposables generate a significant volume of energy annually. In addition, wastes in metropolitan areas are utilized for generating electrical energy and gas.

Animal, Agricultural, and Human Excretions
With the usage of agricultural and animal excretions over and above human body wastes, a number of `Gobar Gas` plants have been built in many rural areas to make them self-reliant in their energy requirements. The energy generated in this way is utilized for food preparation, lighting roads and houses, and satisfying the water supply requirements of the rural community. The plants have been established both at private and group levels.

Last but not least, the largest percentage of energy is used in the household kitchens of India. Cow dung and wood are regarded as global sources of energy. Unfortunately, the conventional `chulhas` are uneconomical modes of preparing food. The better categories of effective and smoke-free chulhas assist in protecting wood fuel. These are some of the most well known and extensively utilized non-conventional sources of energy in India.